Monthly Archives: November 2009

So after some back & forth, I’ve finally gotten the call from the orchard that the cider is pressed and ready for pickup.

As requested, I’ve got about 3 gallons in each of the 5 gallon carboys. Now its time to mix it all together.

Now if any of you have done a search on how cider is made, you’re going to come across a whole lot of recipies. I had pretty much decided which one seemed the most in the middle, and ran it past the guys over at Maltose Express.

They’re the closest “do it yourself” store for brewing guys. I picked up some new bottle corks, tubing, a racking system (big plastic wand to suck out the cider), some yeast for the mix, a bit of malic acid, and a copy of their own recipie.

Here’s what I did. For each 3 gallons I poured out some of the cider, heated it, and mixed in 2 pounds of brown sugar. I did the same with another 1lb of local honey, and another 1/3 lb of sugar in the raw, mixing it all back in.

The yeast I used works in a packet, filled with the yeast and some nutrients. You mix it together, open the packet and pour it in. Because I had a split batch though I poured it into a measuring cup first and doled out half to each bottle.

A swirl later, and away we go! With this first step some people say you only need to cover it with a loose lid (if you’re using a bucket). I’m probably stepping it too far, but since I had gotten some airlocks, I decided to give them a try. You wash the heck out of them, stick them into special corks, put them in place atop the bottle, and then fill it up with some vodka in the lock. The vodka evaporates a lot slower than water so you don’t need to fill it as often. The vapor lock keeps the outside air from getting in, while letting the air escape as the yeast does its thing so the pressure doesn’t build up.

So now I’ve got the two bottles sitting in the basement, gently warming. They tell me it takes about a week and a half for this initial stage, then I’m to siphon it off and let it mellow and clarify for another month. It is really murky and the sugar made it a lot darker than I expected. Right now it looks like there’s a 1/2 inch of bubbly cheesecake on the top. I’m excited about the whole process and it has been a bit of a learning curve. I figure worst case scenario I’ve made a big batch of yuck, but hopefully it’ll turn out good in the end.

Being interested in beer as I am, I’ve found myself tinkering with the process of making my own. It seems a good way to begin learning the process is going about a simple batch of Hard Cider.

I began with looking up the information online. Seems like everyone and their mother has a version of a cider recipe.

I pieced together one, along with advice from others, and began gathering my components.

Other than the obvious of needing some pressed cider, I also needed something to make it in – the bottles.

I consider my self very fortunate in this area. You see my father took it upon himself to make some very awful batches of wine back in the day. Occasionally he would step it up with exploding beer, and overly carbonated soda that would make you throw up. Thankfully however, all of his bottles were saved.

As with many hand me downs from them, it needed some work. They had collected their fair share of dust and yuck over the years of unuse. One had nearly an inch of dark foul smelling things collected at the bottom.

Once I knew I would do this, I had stopped by a “brew-your-own” store ahead of time. Picked up a bottle brush, and a jar of food grade cleanser.

I began with scouring the entire outside of the bottles. Moving onto a basic fill and rinse. Then I dumped 3 cups of bleach into each, and topped it off with water, leaving it to sit overnight.

The next day, I continued. First with using the brush anywhere and everywhere it could reach. Flushed it out with water, and then brushed again. I next put a quarter cup of the bottle cleanser into some water, diluted it, and filled it up halfway. Another brushing all over, and I even got Nico involved with scrubbing the outside this time.

A half hour later, with multiple rinses, and voila! I turned them all upside down, let them drip dry, and followed up with a towel down.

I decided to make 6 gallons, but I’m not positive if the tall skinny ones are 3 gallons or 2 1/2. To be on the safe side I decided to use the (2) 5 gallon carboys and fill them up 3 gallons each. A call and a stop over at March Farms (the local orchard), and after I receive a fill up call later this week we’ll be on our way